Police say CCTV footage provided crucial evidence leading to a Lethbridge woman being charged in the slaying of Trisheena Simon last year.

Crystal Mills, 45, of Lethbridge, is charged with manslaughter after police said Simon was discovered in medical distress by a security guard outside the Royal Bank at 4820 Northland Drive N.W. at about 1:20 a.m. on Feb 22, 2017.

Simon was taken to hospital but died two days later.

Police said Simon and Mills had an “altercation that escalated to violence” on the night Simon was killed.

Simon was found with “massive head injuries.”

“The investigation started two days after she was hospitalized. CCTV played an important role from both the neighbouring businesses and the neighbourhood,” said Staff Sgt. Ken Carriere, who added that it led to the identification of two suspects.

“The transient nature about many of the witnesses in this file made it very difficult for us to track down all of the witnesses.”

It is unknown what the altercation was over, but police say the two had met earlier in the night.

“They were simply acquaintances that had met earlier in the night . . . at a bar in the downtown area,” said Carriere.

“That went on for a number of hours and subsequently an altercation occurred between the two, leading to an assault and the victim’s unfortunate death.”

Mills was in custody in Lethbridge in relation to an unrelated incident before officers in Calgary were notified. Carriere said Mills has “a history with both the Calgary Police Service and Lethbridge.”

Police believe the last time Simon was seen was late Feb. 20 or early Feb. 21 at one of the city’s emergency shelters.

“The best information we have is that Trisheena was somewhat transient and didn’t have a residence of her own, and would have been in that particular situation for the last number of years,” Coleman said in 2017.

Simon’s father, Ricky Peigan, said the last time he heard from his daughter was about four months before her death. He said she was struggling to build a life in Calgary and provide a home for her two young children.

Investigators believe the suspect and victim were known to each other and had recently met before the incident.

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